Nolan Patrick growing into a player the Flyers can't live without

Nolan Patrick has racked up 12 points in his last 14 games and been a force recently for the Flyers.(Photo: Matt Slocum, AP)

PHILADELPHIA — The biggest differences in the Flyers from the first half to the second half are all about internal candidates. It’s pretty unlikely the Flyers add an impact player before next Monday’s trade deadline so if they do the unlikely and make the playoffs, it will be because of players who underperformed in the first few months, not a newcomer.

Ivan Provorov has turned things around as the Flyers’ No. 1 defenseman. Rookie goalie Carter Hart, 20, has erased many mistakes made in front of him since he was recalled in December.

Nolan Patrick, the second-overall pick in last year’s draft, has made some serious strides too.

“He’s skating. With him it’s all about skating,” Jake Voracek said. “He had one good game against Minny (a two-goal, two-assist performance on Jan. 14 against the Wild). He got on the board there point-wise and since then he’s just taken off. It was the same thing with him last year. Obviously he’s a young player and you can tell when he’s gonna find that groove throughout 70 games, 65 games throughout the season instead of 45, 40, he’s gonna be a hell of a player.”

It would be really interesting to see the results of the data the NHL now collects in games, which includes player skating speed.

Patrick’s line with Scott Laughton and Wayne Simmonds has been buzzing recently mostly because the second-year center has been on a tear. He’s making power-forward moves, commanding the ice with the puck on his stick and outmuscling opponents, which he wasn’t able to do as much last year when he wasn’t able to hit the gym as much in the summer due to surgery recovery.

Patrick has 12 points in his last 14 games. He was kept off the scoresheet for five games prior to that stretch as he worked his way back into things when an “upper-body injury” cost him four games from late December to early January.

The line as a whole has probably been the Flyers’ second best recently, with Oskar Lindblom, Sean Couturier and Voracek comprising the most effective unit.

“Patty’s skating really well through the middle and creating things,” Laughton said Saturday. “You know what you’re gonna get out of Simmy. Good on the wall and he makes so much room for Patty and me down low and guys are scared of him. It’s good for him to go in on the forecheck and create space and we’ve been finding each other pretty well and it needs to continue.”

“We’ve been clicking when we’ve been together,” Patrick added after a three-point performance on Saturday. “They’re two easy guys to play with.”

Patrick, 20, hasn’t yet blossomed into the franchise center that many thought he would be leading up to the 2017 draft. To expect that before his second season in the NHL is complete would be unrealistic, but the tools are all there.

When Scott Gordon took over as head coach in December, Patrick was one of the players that stood out especially because the two hadn’t spent much time around each other. Unlike most of the young players on the Flyers’ roster, Patrick didn’t play for Gordon with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at any point. One of the first things that stood out to Gordon was that Patrick plays a 200-foot game when he’s at his best, an effective player in all three zones.

More recently, what’s stood out to Gordon is how Patrick plays with the puck on his stick and in pressure situations.

It’s unclear how much the injury derailed him temporarily, but it’s very clear that Patrick disagrees with the assessment that he’s an oft-injured player.

Despite having core muscle surgery before his first NHL training camp, missing nine games with a concussion his rookie season and having to sit out three games in October due to an unspecified “upper-body injury,” Patrick hates the thought of anyone thinking he’s not tough.

Fans gasped Saturday when he blocked a shot with his right hand late in the second period and walked right off the ice and down the tunnel toward the locker room. He returned for the third period.

“I was coming back the whole time,” he said.

If he continues to play with the same bite he did Saturday, his edge will be one the Flyers can’t live without.